An experimental characterization of three‐phase equilibria in Fe—V—O and Fe—Nb—O systems at 1 823, 1 873, and 1 923 K has been carried out using a solid state cell and by analysis of quenched samples. The oxygen potentials corresponding to these three‐phase equilibria were monitored by a solid state cell incorporating Y2O3 doped ThO2 with Cr + Cr2O3 as reference electrode. Similar measurements were carried out for Fe—Nb—O alloys in equilibrium with a mixture of FeNb2O6 and NbO2. These measurements permit evaluation of interaction parameters (evo= ‐6590/T+2.892 and eNbo = ‐4066/T+1.502) and activity coefficients of vanadium and niobium in dilute solution (In yov = ‐35320/T+12.68 and In yoNb = ‐ 12386/T+ 4.34) in liquid iron. The results obtained in this study resolve a number of discrepancies in thermodynamic data reported in the literature, especially regarding the activity coefficients of V and Nb and the stability ranges for V2O3 and VO1+x.